Perspective 17: the Ruhr valley – from coal mining to a capital of culture.

In 1989, when the Wall came down, the Ruhr valley was also entering a new era. In the decades that followed, one of Europe’s largest industrial regions underwent a breathtaking transformation. A landscape that was still dominated by mining towers in 1960 is now flourishing with plants, animals and culture. This reinvention reached its greatest milestone in 2010, when the Ruhr became the first region to be named European Capital of Culture.